Connecticut western news., 1887-03-02
A CITY AMBULANCE.
The Dark Wagons Frequently
 Seen in New York Streets.
Some of the Odd Experiences of the
 Doctors in Charge.

Yes, on that black, spectrelike vehicle that dashes by with speed only second to that of fire engine. there are inci- dents occurring that are amusing as we'll as pathetic, and, from a moralist's stand point, arc also instructive. .ss
 Probably tho major part, of the human family, outside of the medical profess sion, have associated naught but grim ideas with that black wagon and gallop- ing horse, and only connect them with death bed scenes, with the shadow of the cemetery lurking in the background.
 But it doesn't always mean that some- body is bidding farewell to this earthly life every time you hear the clang of the bells and the rush of the wheels and catch glimpse of the sombre cover over your shoulder us it rushes past.
 Oh, no! It may mean an accident, or a case of pneumonia or rheumatism, or it may mean only "drunk."
 But that latter is generally the most serious in the surgeons eyes, for he knows it means strict surveillance on his part for the next twenty minutes.
 "One night" said downtown phy- siclan, "when was on the Bellevue Hospital ambulance, there was call from the Fifty-ninth street station house. When we got up there I found it was only a case of tremens. The man was tall and sallow, like a Mexican. I had a great deal of trouble to keep him in the ambulance. He assured me there were little white elephants hanging by their tails all around him. He described their antics to me, and then began to count them. It was very cold, windy night, and the wind blew through the wagon in gusts. The man fought hard to get out of the ambulance, and final ly had to fasten him down to the bot tom to keep him quiet."
 II remember one night in December, it was bitterly colJ, and three calls came in at once from the Toombs. One was case of tremens, one was an old man who had rheumatism and the other was woman who was suff ,ring with pleuri- sy. It was storming hard outside, anl the three were huddled in the wagon shivering with cold. There was only one blanket, and that wrapped around the woman, who was most in need. But the old man groancd inc ,ssantly, for the jo'ts of the wagon made the rheumatism crcak in his joints. His complaining aroused the woman's sympathy to the highest pitch, and she magnanimously offered him tho blanket. objected to that, however. and then she gave him one corner of it. Between the three in one ambuluace I had my hands full and wasn't sorry when We rolled under the archway into the hospital yard. 'I had sad case in Pitt street one day in October. l remember tho sun was shining very brightly in the street when I went, at noon, into rear tene- ment. We groped through the dark halls to a room where there was a great deal of excitement, and going in found 9 little girl, four years old, who had been terribly burned. The mother, Hebrew woman, had gone out and locked her two little children in the room, when the eldest of them caught her dress ir the fire and in a moment was enveloped in flames. The neighbors rushed in and the fi,e was finally put out, but the little one had inhaled the flame and could no possibly live. She did not suffer much apparently, and her parents could no be brought to believe that she was in s' dangerous condition, and when, fev hours after, she died in their arms they could not be consoled. They lived in { room about eight by fourteen feet square and there were fully twenty people crowded in there. The child lay on
 lounge and they crowded around till
 could scarcely get through to sec her.
 "There was another case of a chilt that once had. It was in the middl of the afternoon that the call came. w.
 hurried up to forty-eighth street, nca second avenue. The case was in the tol of a six story tenement. It seems the
 were building another tenement just nex
 door of equal height, and there was a
 air shaft between the two buildings
 There were lot of children playing O
 the roof, and they amused themselves b
 jumping across the air shaft. Of cours
 one of them fell and went the whole si
 stories to the bottom of the basement
 She struck on pile of lumber and fel
 on her shoulder in some way, SO that he
 back was broken below the neck. The
 carried her up again to the room, bu
 her mother was out, and it was nearl
 three hours before the ambulance wa
 summoned and the child was takel
 away. She was paralyzed and lay in tn hospital sixteen months. Then she wa pronounced incurable, put in rollin chair and removed to the hospital fe crippled children"
 ''Do the hospitals keep the amb'
 lances and horses always in readiness something after the manner of fire con panies2"
 "Some hospitals have the drop ha ness, others keep . horse always ha
 messed, and others still keep to u
 slower way of harnessing up when u
 call comes in. I believe the New Yol
 Hospital keeps horse standing ha messed night and day.
 , ''At Bellevue the call comes in .l telenhnne The ittle crinnled man wi